An interesting post:
http://blog.vincentlaforet.com/2015...camera-is-coming-to-and-end-for-all-but-pros/.
I'm not entirely convinced, but I think that this prediction may well affect the Canon/Nikon (maybe Sony) more than anyone else. If anything, I think mirrorless cameras have greater potential to ride out the storm.
I am convinced this is becoming true. The ambassadors that Nikon, Canon, Olympus and Sony use are listened by the old timers like us because we grew up with them and they are the brand name we associate closely, but are shunned by the new generations who know bloggers by their Youtube videos or their sensational huff pieces that create flame wars for click traffic. If you look at camera sales in general, it keeps shrinking. Basically, you have many companies stealing sales by making camera with more claimed DR, and more claimed megapixels. They are basically fighting tooth and nail for the last bastion of pro shooters and pro amateurs with lots of money. What about the new generation? They are brought up with iOS/Android and literally their darkroom is Photoshop Express or Filterstorm. Many of these self-styled photo guru with iOS are the photographers who are being ridiculed by pro photographers not even knowing who they really are and know them personally just because they teach students unorthodox, un-classic style and un-photographic old school centric techniques. So we assumed they are wrong and that their students will know and found out and then will happily adopt a mirrorless camera or a DSLR because that's how photography should be done. I don't think so.. Every new generation brings news things, new ideas and new solutions. Only us who are afraid of change think it is not true.
That my friend is an illusion. You are not doing the things that your parents used to do and neither is your children doing things exactly like you, so what would new generation of photographers do the things we expect them to do; to take pictures the classic way with a DSLR or a mirrorless camera? Why use an Abacus when you can use an electronic calculator! I see many store owners hoping that way. See, these delusional people are confident these iOS/Android users will eventually buy a real camera. You can wait till the cows come home but they won't appear.
What this means to camera makers is that, as sales dwindle and shrink like the HIFI days and the Personal Computer days, there will be less innovation and less traditional cameras available. Just try to find a speciality HIFI dedicated store today. They were plentiful in the 70s and 80s. Remember there was once a place called the "Arcade" where you can play video games. Well, when video game machines came into the homes, it spelled doom to the Arcade owners. But then, there was a time these owners were delusional too because they believed Arcade machines were more powerful, more graphics. But just like everyone who is delusional that the old times would come back is that, what killed the Arcade was basically convenience. You can play at home rather than trek to a joint and you can play all the time despite the machine then were less powerful than the ones in the Arcade joint.
Pros will use DSLRs and mirrorless but for how long? Still imaging isn't paying much these days anyhow and about 90% imaging go on the web for tablet and phone consumption. Which means, do we really need a 200MP camera for web? Do we need 15 stops DR for the web when print demand is low?
All of this doesn't change what we do. We can continue taking photographs with our cameras and enjoy our art, but the future generation will not share the same aspirations as we do.
